Online comics?

The interesting thing of the day is that Marvel Comics is going to be making comic books available online, a selection of some earlier books as well as some of their newer titles, although apparently nothing very new.

For me, this is a lousy idea. I bought myself the Avengers on CD-ROM, the Avengers being my favorite title since time immemorial, but I've only glanced at it since I got it because it's just too hard for my aging eyes to take. That and the total and unforgivable lack of any sort of search function. It's in PDF format, which would be great if it were laid out one page at a time, but it isn't, it's laid out in facing pages, and that means it's too much work to scroll up and down and up and down and so forth (which I need to do a lot of due to the size I need it to be in order to read it at all, thanks to the poor eyesight I alluded to earlier).

But I imagine that most folks are better equipped (eye-wise) to read comics on their computers.

They'll be charging $59.88/year, or $9.99/month, for access to their online archive of material, which isn't bad if the archive is updated on a regular basis and if you're interested in a wide range of their material.

I did note that they will be making the material formatted in both double-page and single-page layouts--or allowing you to read it one panel at a time--which would certainly make it more likely that I'd be interested in it at some point. (Some point when I have a better internet connection, actually, but I'd a least consider it now.) Certainly a more reader-friendly approach.

But I find that I'm considering this as only a potential add-on to my current comic purchases, and not a replacement. I don't really enjoy reading online, not for relaxation--I find it much easier to read off of paper. (Because I'm ooooold! :)) I spend a lot of time on the internet but there are things I really prefer to read IRL.

Like comics.

I also don't like the idea of buying temporary access to the comics, rather than actually having them in your possession--I do a lot of re-reading, and I wouldn't want to have to pay a continuing fee just to be able to do that.

I can see uses for this, just not any that would apply for me personally.